Boeing will be “the prime contractor, with Lockheed Martin
as the primary teammate,” Chicago-based Boeing said today in a
statement. The companies had competed on the F-35 fighter, with
Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed winning that project.

The Air Force has said it may build as many as 100 of the
bombers, delivering the first of them in the mid-2020s, at an
estimated cost of $550 million each. Boeing and Lockheed may end
up in a contest against Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), which is the
prime contractor on the B-2, the Air Force’s current stealth
bomber.

“It’s likely Northrop is competing, and I think they’re
the one to beat” because of their experience with the B-2 and
in building key components for the F-35, said Kevin Brancato, a
defense analyst with Bloomberg Government.

The project reflects the Pentagon’s commitment to strategic
weaponry amid declining defense spending and limits such as the
current budget cuts known as sequestration. The Air Force has
requested $379 million in funding this year for development of
the bomber, increasing to more than $1 billion in fiscal 2015
and $2.8 billion in fiscal 2018, according to data released by
the service.

‘Unmanned Capability’

Lockheed rose 1 percent to $134 at the close of trading in
New York, and Boeing climbed 1.7 percent to $131.19. Northrop
Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia, rose less than 1
percent to $108.37.

Boeing ascertained in advance that Air Force officials were
comfortable with the idea of a joint Boeing-Lockheed bid,
according to Todd Blecher, a Boeing spokesman.

Northrop, which sees the bomber “as vital to both national
security and the power-projection capability of the U.S. Air
Force,” won’t comment “on other companies’ business
arrangements,” spokesman Randy Belote said in an e-mailed
statement.

The Air Force has identified the long-range bomber as one
of its top three weapons projects, along with the F-35 and the
KC-46 aerial refueling tanker.

An Air Force summary describes a stealth aircraft able to
deliver both nuclear and conventional bombs. While the
“baseline aircraft” would be piloted, the bomber would be
designed to “enable future unmanned capability,” according to
the service.

The Air Force said in its fiscal 2014 budget presentation
that the bomber “must be able to penetrate the increasingly
dense, anti-access/area denial environments developing around
the world” and would incorporate “proven technologies.”